Overview of the Collection

Creator

Brigham
Young College (Logan, Utah)

Title

Brigham Young College records

Dates

1877-1926 (inclusive)

18771926

Quantity

30 volumes, (18 linear ft.)

Collection Number

USU_COLL MSS 001

Summary

Mostly publications produced by Brigham Young
College, the Alumni Association, and the student body. Manuscript record group includes
register of studies (1888-1891); minutes of general theology, missionary, and priesthood
meetings (1889-1892); Dept. of Biology equipment and herbarium inventories; minutes of
Brigham Young College Athletic Association meetings (1895-1907); minutes of student
literary and social groups, including the Beacon Light Society (1900-1905), Phae Polo
Lyceum (1896-1900), Philomathic Literary Society (1903-1904), Webster Literary and
Debating Society (1916-1917); and the reminiscences of the Class of 1904.

The Brigham Young College was charted on 6 August, 1877, by President Brigham Young of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, just twenty-three days before he died.
On that day, President Young deeded more than nine thousand acres in south central Cache
County to a group of trustees for the establishment of a college.

Apparently planned in imitation of Oberlin College, the basic philosophy expressed in
the deed was that an institution of higher learning would be established on the property
which would then be worked by the students themselves. The sale of student-raised
produce was to provide operating funds for the college.

Laudable in conception, the full plan never materialized. The trustees rented space in
Logan in Lindquist Hall on the corner of 200 North and 100 East, the former home of the
Logan City Corporation. Classes opened in the Hall on September 9, 1878. From 1882 to
1884, classes met in the basement of the Cache Tabernacle in Logan.

While the college was meeting in the Tabernacle, a large building was built on the
corner of 100 West and 100 South in Logan. Into this "East Building," the B. Y. C. moved
with the opening of the 1884-85 school year. The family of LDS Apostle Moses Thatcher
donated the land for the new building, and shortly afterward added to their gift until
the B. Y. C. came into possession of a thirty-three acre tract.

It was this gift of land (and apparently the influence of the Thatcher family) which
effectively negated the idea of a permanent site for the college on the 9,642 acre farm.
The land meanwhile was rented to farmers, the rent providing a small income for the
institution. In the early years of the 1890s, the farm was sold to the renters,
apparently to avoid a contest for title with the Central Pacific Railroad. The funds
realized from the sale of the land enabled the construction of the West Building in
1898-99.

Until 1909, the college offered four years of high school training in addition to the
four years leading to the Baccalaureate Degree. In that year the Church Board of
Education, which had overall supervision of the college, eliminated upper division work.
Henceforth, the B. Y. C. became a Junior College. In addition, a normal course for
teacher training was an added to the college. Increased enrollment and stiffened
requirements for teacher certification compelled the Church Board of Education to extend
normal school training.

In 1909, as public school education increased in quality, the first year of high school
instruction was eliminated; and in 1920 the second. On 31 March, 1926, the LDS Church
Board of Education voted to discontinue Church high schools and academies. The loss of
the Baccalaureate degree in 1909 was fatal. While the State of Utah assumed support of
Weber Academy, Snow Academy, and Dixie Academy, it made no effort to perpetuate the
Brigham Young College since the state-supported Utah Agricultural College was also in
Logan.

The forty-eighth annual commencement of the Brigham Young College on May 23, 1926, was
its last. Much of the college equipment and library were sold at a nominal price to the
U. A. C. (now Utah State University), while the campus itself became the home of the
Logan Senior High School.

For more information on the history of the Brigham Young College see:

Bennet, Ernest J. "The Life and Educational Contributions of Joseph Jensen," M.S.
Thesis, Dept. of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Utah, Salt
Lake City (1956).

Brigham Young College Bulletin, Final Volume, Final Number. Logan (1926).

Hansen, John A. "The History of College and Young Wards, Cache County, Utah," M.S.
Thesis, Dept. of History, Utah State University, Logan (1968). Hansen gives details on
the early history of the Church Farm which formed the land endowment of the Brigham
Young College.

The Manuscript Collection of the Brigham Young College contains yearbooks, publications
by students and the college, artifacts, and records from the BYC and from the Brigham
Young College Alumni Association. It covers the history of the College from its
beginnings in 1877 to its final memorial service in 1926 and even to class reunions in
the 1960s. Most of the collection consists of publications, such as the student-edited
Crimson and Crimson Annual, and the official College Bulletins and Catalogues.

The collection has been divided in three series: Brigham Young College Publications and
Papers, Student Publications and Organizations, and Artifacts. Series I contains the
official publications which began in 1884 with the Prospectus. The following year the
publication was changed to the Circular and remained so until 1894 when it was renamed
The Catalogue of the Brigham Young College. Starting in 1902, the College began
publishing a quarterly Bulletin which remained essentially the same until the College
closed in 1926. In each year, Number 1 was generally the Catalogue. Numbers 2, 3, and 4
were usually a "President's Report," an "Alumni Edition," and a "Student Directory,"
respectively, though the order occasionally switched and there was the occasional
special edition. The collection of Bulletins is divided between individual bulletins and
bound bulletins. Generally the bound bulletins were bound by type, as in Series I, box 7
where the Catalogues are bound, or in box 8 where the Student directories from 1910 to
1919 are bound together. Others, such as Series I, box 6, contain the chronological run.
Special Collections received these volumes already bound and in some cases the binding
was done rather haphazardly. Thus some of the bound volumes of Bulletins are out of
order, but the Index below contains the volume, numbers, and dates for all bound
volumes. Also included in Series I are Council and Trustee meeting records and Registers
for the administration of the College. box 11 contains manuscript items such as
histories, correspondence, and commencement programs. Also included in box 11 is a
recorded speech by Professor William O. Robinson given at a reunion in 1969 about his
years teaching at the BYC.

Series II primarily contains The Crimson in its monthly and yearly form. The Crimson was
published from 1904 to 1926 and contains essays, short stories, poetry, and other items
produced by the students. Beginning in 1913, the students published The Crimson Annual,
a yearbook for the college. The issues of The Crimson are also separated in bound and
unbound copies. The bound copies are generally in order. Also included with these bound
volumes is a bound copy of Volume I of The College Record, a student publication that
lasted for only a year in 1892. This volume was bound with the 1884 Prospectus, and the
Circulars for 1884, 1885, 1890, and 1891, as well as copies of several state and federal
laws and LDS Church policies that pertain to the school. In the manuscripts are the
minutes and constitutions for five student organizations, the Beacon Light Society, the
Webster Literary and Debating Society, the Philomatic Literary Society, the Phae Pollo
Lyceum, and the BYC Athletic Association. boxes 5 and 6 pertain to the Brigham Young
College Alumni Association and includes its constitution, its treasury records,
invitations, and correspondence. Following that is the run of Crimson Annuals from 1913
to 1926 excepting 1922 and 1923 (a number of surplus copies have been transferred to
Book Collection #57 which contains yearbooks from around Cache Valley). From 1924 to
1925, The Crimson was published in newspaper format. Those are stored separately along
with diplomas and certificates. Finally, two boxes contain a card file kept by the
Alumni Association. The first is a record of those who have donated to the BYC Endowment
Fund, and the second contains a partial list of graduates, from A to G, and a list of
past faculty.

Series III contains artifacts, including such items as banners and flags, as well as a
robe, two mugs, and some stationary. One box contains original blueprints and surveys
for the college lands and its buildings.

All the photographs that were originally part of this collection have been put into their own collection as the Brigham Young College Photograph Collection, USUSC P0008. Special Collections also has three BYC trophies: an Inter-class Debating trophy, a trophy for Track and athletics, and an Inter-class basketball trophy. These are stored in transfer boxes at the end of the collection. In additions to these two collections, items with relevant information are contained in other collections at USU. There is a Miscellany Book in USU Spec Coll, Mss 238, no 106 which was written by a student at the BYC and contains sports scores and classroom notes. Also, there is an interview with Joseph Meyrick (USUSC PAM C235) who graduated from the BYC in 1920, and relates some stories about life and school in Logan in the early twentieth century.

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Restrictions on Use

Copyright

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of
the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her
transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and
hold harmless the Utah State University Libraries, its officers, employees, and agents
from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.

Preferred Citation

Arrangement

Organized in 3 record groups: I. Brigham Young College Publications and Records; II.
Student Publications and Organizations; III. Artifacts.

Acquisition Information

The Brigham Young College Papers of the Special Collections Division of the Merrill
Library, Utah State University, is the end result of the combination of two major and
several minor collection. In 1926, when the BYC. was closed, the major part of its
library was sold for a nominal sum to the USU library. As a result, the University came
into a sizeable collection of BYC publication. While the passage of time resulted in
some attrition, the remaining items were transferred to the custody of the Special
Collections Division in 1966.

In May 1968, Mr. Peter A.C. Pedersen, President of the Brigham Young College Alumni
Association delivered the collection of BYC materials in the possession of the
Association to the USU Special Collection Division with the specific understanding that
they be maintained as a separate collection within the Library.

At various times former students and faculty members of the BYC have given items to the
collection. Chief among these have been Dr. Joseph Geddes, Mrs. Ada England Worrell, and
Mr. Norman Salisbury.

Copy two of the Brigham Young College Record of 1892 to 1893(Series II, Box 1) was obtained from Orrin Schwab in 2011.

Additional ephemeral papers related to the Brigham Young College, specifically the Alumni Association, commencement programs, and others were purchased by USU Special Collections and Archives from Ken Sanders Rare Books in 2000.

Separated Materials

All the photographs that were originally part of this collection have been put into
their own collection as the Brigham Young College Photograph Collection, USUSC
P0008.